Beauty and the Beast, Princess and the Dragon
by Power of the Wol
Summary: A very short one off set during A Hero's Tail. Red pays the Ice Princess a visit. Romantic drabble hinting towards RedXIce Princess.
1. Red

**Beauty and the Beast, Princess and the Dragon**

Power: As far as I can tell, there's no evidence for this pairing, but what the hell, I like it . This is a very short one off set during AHT. Enjoy.

Icy Wilderness; Ice Citadel

The blue gnorc shivered in his brown fur coat as he approached the large red dragon overseeing the plantation of a Dark Gem. The dragon noticed him approaching and turned to face him. "What is it"  
The gnorc addressed and spoke to him in his own language. It had not taken long for Red to grasp the neccessary basics of the language, mostly through the method of point-and-ask. He had the fortune, in terms of language, to be named after a colour. The grunt used to address him was their word for the colour red in concord with the word for dragon and he'd noticed an identical grunt emmited when they addressed Gnasty Gnorc. He assumed, as Gnasty was their official, appointed leader, that it meant leader. The language of gnorc did not flow like the language of Dragon or Uni, the language spoken universally. Or if it did, it could not be translated in a way that it would, unless you were a gnorc yourself and could speak both gnorc and Uni fluently. All Red heard was;  
"Red-Dragon-Leader, (untranslated grunt). (A grunt which meant nothing, lacking, unknown)-Fox-(A grunt which was applied to cold, snow, frost, ice and such like) Princess, fighting. Strong Ice Magic. (grunt)-Fox- Ice Princess not allow gnorcs (or us) in home (palace"  
Red smiled. "I should have thought as much. Leave the Ice Princess to me and see that she comes to no harm. Now I have another task for you. There are five boilers in the Citadel. Put them out"  
The gnorc nodded and hurried off to assemble a team to carry out the task.

**Ice Citadel; Interior; Throne Room**

The Ice Princess walked briskly through the corridors of her palace. She could feel the chill of Icy Wilderness' climate creeping into her home. Those blasted gnorcs must have had a rare flash of inspiration and had put out her boilers. Elizabeth had taken the offensive and was now marching about her home searching for gnorcs to freeze with her Ice Magic then smash with her trusty short sword in the hopes of defending the Citadel. But she was just one against an army. Finally accepting the inevitable, Elizabeth was now retreating to her throne room, inttending to defend herself in a siege style situation and pray that someone would come along to help her drive them out.  
The Ice Princess checked the corridor behind her as she slipped into the Throne Room and quietly closed the door. Unfortunately, there were no locks. She looked around the room for something to block it with, then walked into the center of the room, rubbing her arms. Just as she registered the fact that there was nothing heavy enough to stop a gnorc getting in she heard from behind her;  
"Cold"  
Startled, she whipped around to the source of the voice and jumped again. "Red"  
"Elizabeth"  
She had not heard him come in. For that matter, she was not aware that he had been following her either. Several questions formed on her tongue at the same time. "How-What-Where-?" She paused to gather her thoughts. "What are you doing here, I thought the other Dragon Elders had banished you on pain of death"  
"They had, but I've come back"  
"Why? Why now"  
"Aren't you pleased to see me"  
"Well. . ." she paused. "I did enjoy your visits"  
He smiled. "As I enjoyed coming here"  
She shivered and rubbed her upper arms. Before she knew it, he was standing over her, his hands on her waist, his wings folded around them. Her ears flattened against her head and she looked up at him sharply, only to realise that their faces were uncomfortably close. "What are you doing"  
"Aren't you cold"  
She looked away. "Let me go, Red"  
He niether spoke nor moved.  
"How many times do I have to tell you, I don't feel the same way about you"  
"I don't believe you"  
A pause.  
"Please, just let me go"  
"As you wish." He refolded his wings, but his hands lingered on her waist. She pulled away to stand beside her throne.  
Red silently retrieved his staff from where he'd propped it up against the wall. "I've ordered the gnorcs not to harm you, but for your own saftey, I'd advise you to stay here"  
"You? Your behind this"  
Without replying, he strode down the hall that lead up to the throne.  
"You've changed, Red"  
He paused in opening the door. "So I've been told." The door slammed behind him.  
Elizabeth did not move until the sound of his claws clicking against the cold stone floor had died away. She opened one of the chests beside the throne and pulled out a Light Gem. "At least this will provide me with some warmth"

**Power: You may have worked out how people are addressed. Name, species, title. If any are unknown, the grunt for unknown is substituted. The grunt for unknown also means lacking, nothing and is substitued when the one addressed doesn't have, for example a title.  
It is my belief that in Spyro at least, Dragons have an internal, everburning fire in them that fuels their firebreath (and keeps them warm) essential making them walking radiators (). With Faery Magic, the fire can be changed eg into lightning and so on.**


	2. One Last Thing

**One Last Thing**

Power: Something I thought of after I'd posted the fic up on DA and I was considering taking the fics down and reposting them with this added, but I couldn't be bothered .

Icy Wilderness; Red's Chamber

"I can't believe I underestimated you."  
Spyro smirked and turned to Sparx. "Maybe his power wasn't so infinite after all."  
While the young dragon was distracted, Red spread his wings and soared upwards. His raw burns screamed in protest and he let go of his Dark Gem staff as he strangled a howl of pain. In the warmth of his Chamber, the wounds he'd sustained had not been as bad, but in the cold of Icy Wilderness, they sang. Blinking aside the tears that had welled up, blurring his vision, he set a course.

**Ice Citadel; Interior; Elizabeth's room**

Elizabeth sat in front of her dressing table mirror, running a stiff-bristled brush through her orange fur. Spyro had relit the boilers, warming up her home. She'd had her warm bath and was in her nightgown, about to go to bed.  
_Tap, tap, tap._  
She put her brush down and looked at the window. With a look of astonishment the Ice Princess stood up, crossed over to and opened it.  
"Red, what in Icy Wilderness. . ." she trailed off as she took in the burns and open wounds on his tail, legs and underbelly. ". . . have you been doing?"  
"Does the name Spyro mean anything to you?"  
"You came all the way here, in the cold like that. . . ?" she shook her head. "Only you, Red, anyone else would be screaming in agony. You'd better come in."  
She closed the window as he hopped off the window and, with the help of his considerable wingspan, lighted on the floor, a gasp of pain escaping him.  
"Lie down." Elizabeth knelt beside him and looked him over. "Hold still." All the inhabitants of Icy Wilderness knew at least basic healing spells. If the cold got hold of an open wound, and one did not have a healing spell, they were done for. The Ice Princess had chosen to spend years of her childhood learning the more powerful healing spells. These were deeper penetrataing and required physical touch. They also drained more magic. Before long, Elizabeth could feel exhaustion set in. She glanced at Red, who would flinch everytime she touched his more serious wounds, and scowled. "Don't pretend you're not enjoying this." He gave her innocent look, but said nothing.  
A long moment of silence elapsed between them before, the Ice Princess lifted her hands and, clasping them together on her lap informed him that she was done. The red dragon got carefully to his feet and examined the scarring. He met her gaze, "Thank you, Elizabeth."  
She smiled and sprawled out on the floor. "Gosh, I'm so tired." The Ice Princess was too exhausted to object when he picked her up and carried her over to her bed. He pulled the covers up to her chin. "I have to go."  
Elizabeth grabbed his hand as he turned to leave and he looked back, surprised. "Why Red? Why are doing this?"  
Red dropped his gaze. "You wouldn't understand."  
A pause. Then he pulled away and headed over to the window.  
"Red?"  
He paused in opening the window. "Yes?"  
"I suppose I should wish you good luck. . . but if you win, you'll plunge our Worlds into darkness." she turned away from him. "You've changed Red, and not for the better."  
The only sound to be heard was the howling of the wind as it gusted around outside her window. Then, "Elizabeth. Despite everything, my love for you hasn't changed."  
She didn't respond, nor move. Not even when she heard the windows closing with a _click_. His leathery wingbeats were quickly swallowed by the wind as he headed off for the final confrontation with Spyro. And she couldn't help but wonder if final was going to be literal.

**Power: Aww, poor Red . But look, injuries. Yes, injuries. Come on, you don't really think the old dragon could come out of that without some burns at least? And it's not quite out if continuity. Spyro still has to get out of Red's Chamber and the healing didn't take that long. . .**


End file.
